Rebel Rebel

“We called ourselves Rebel Rebel on a whim, because someone asked us our name and we had to have an answer. Well, there are two of us, and we both had red hair at the time, didn’t want to follow fashion but do our own thing… and because David Bowie is a bit of a hero of course.” So speaks Mairead, who founded East London’s Rebel Rebel in the year 2000 with Athena. It gives a pretty good sense of what their floristry studio is about: a fiercely independent sense of style across the beautiful bouquets they assemble along with their team. Not that that too-cool-for-school conviction came overnight. “We founded Rebel Rebel because we loved flowers,” continues Mairead. “Since then we have worked hard, learned our craft, learned about flowers, worked even harder, learned even more… and built up a Rebel team of imaginative, creative, clever florists whose ambitions and flamboyance fills us with excitement.” Eighteen years-worth of this is poured into the bouquets they create today – something that is felt despite the transience of their chosen craft. As Mairead points out though, the impermanent nature of flowers are one of the things that make them so special. “The fact that they won’t last forever… it gives you a fleeting glimpse of heaven.”

When we used thousands of sweet peas for an event and there were so many we had to have them in the office...